The Way We See It: biology

Showing posts with label biology. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Costa Rica 2013: My Ficus

The Strangler (Ficus insipida) - Hacienda Baru Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica
Canon 5D mark iii + Canon 17-40L @ 19mm / f16

This giant of the secondary forest began its life after a clearcut, and has meandered its way towards the sky for the past forty years or so. With buttresses that top out at six vertical feet and a girth of five man hugs, the tree shares all the characteristics of a typical mid-successional species. It’s a nutrient hog that is pre-programmed to strangle its elders in an attempt to fulfill a biological destiny. Much like the cottonwoods and tulip trees of North America, strangler figs (Ficus insipida) grow fast and large in a race to the top. Once there, they bask in the light of day and propagate effusively with a productivity that feeds a complex tropical web.

This particular ficus has been a favorite photographic subject. Located along a mangrove trail in the Hacienda Baru Wildlife Refuge, the fig tree is a landmark between the lodge and an egret rookery. I am drawn to the curvaceous buttress, asymmetric branches, and its largess. The challenge of capture is my muse. I dream of perfect light that is so rare below a rainforest canopy and am always forced to yield my preconceptions in search of a compromise between what is offered and what I can take. This tree has been pictured here in the past (see “Road-tripping Through Ecosystems #4“) and I am certain that I will shoot and show it again. Ok... so it’s not really my ficus, but I wish it were.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Costa Rica 2013 : Oophaga pumilio

I'll Take a Half Cup - Selva Verde, Costa Rica
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 2x Mark iii Converter

What’s in a name?

Known as the “strawberry, blue jeans, blastimentos, or la gruta” poison arrow frog, Oophaga pumilio is a frog with many names. Diminutive at about 20mm, Oophaga pumilio appear in 15-30 color morphs that vary according to their geographic distribution. Once considered members of the larger Dendrobates genus, the strawberry poison dart frog is classified in a single clade, Oophaga, whose evolution coincides with the formation of the Panamanian land bridge.

Found from Nicaragua to Panama, each subpopulation is morphologically distinct. Some groups are bright red (strawberry) while others are yellow with black spots (la gruta). The frog pictured here is the “blue jeans” morph, and they are found throughout the Caribbean slope near the La Selva Biological Reserve in Costa Rica.

The name “poison arrow” or “poison dart” is a generic reference to the poisonous neurotoxins that are secreted dorsally. Historically, pre-Columbian aboriginal populations used the secretions from living and dead frogs to produce poison darts that could be used to hunt monkeys and birds living throughout the forest canopy. In general, poison arrow frogs are unaggressive yet fearless. Dressed in neon and Day-Glo, this genus is famous for its aposomatic or “warning color” patterns. While there are a few bird species that can tolerate the toxins or modify frogs by scraping the glands on rocky surfaces, most birds use the outrageous colors as a way to recognize these frogs as non-food items. Observed in everything from insects to snakes, there is strong selective pressure for aposomatic warning patterns throughout tropical communities. So prevalent is this strategy, some non-poisonous species will mimic toxic ones by evolving aposomatic-like color patterns.

The genus Oophaga is fitting, as the prefix “Oo,” egg, and suffix “phaga,” to eat, aptly describes the nutrition of the developing frog larvae. Female frogs carry eggs into the canopy and deposit them near a watery vessel. Often laid on the leaves of bromeliads, male frogs will make multiple visits to water the eggs and prevent desiccation. Once the tadpoles emerge, females will retrieve the larvae and carry the embryonic frogs to pools formed at the base of epiphytic bromeliads or tree cavity. Here, the larvae will grow until they develop legs and can leave their aquatic homes. The maternal ecological investment is high because the strawberry tadpole is a finicky eater. Beginning with the deposition of one to two larvae and every three days until final development, the adult female will return to the aquatic nest to lay unfertilized eggs. These eggs represent the entire diet of the Oophaga larvae until they can leave their watery home. The diversity and range of this species seems all the more incredible when you consider that less than 12% of all fertilized eggs the survive through metamorphosis.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Species Profile: Kirk’s dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii)

Kirk's dik dik (Madoqua kirkii) - Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania
Canon 1D mark II + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS w/ Canon 1.4x converter @ f4.5

Dik-dik’s are unique members of the family Bovidae. Like their more famous Bovid cousins, the dik-dik is a ruminant with unbranching horns and paired toes. Smallest among the antelope, these diminutive wide-eyed creatures can top out at 42 km per hour to evade monitor lizards, caracals, leopards and lions prowling about the brush-lands of East Africa. A preorbital gland lies ventral to large lashed eyes, and secretes a sticky substance used to mark territorial boundaries. The elongated nose with bellows-like musculature is an adaptation to the extreme heat on the savanna. Expansions and contractions by the snout increases airflow across blood vessels thus maintaining a constant body temperature. Famously monogamous, dik-dik males deposit dung or urine directly on the excretions produced by their mate. Such behavior is likely to deter intruder males from invading the tightly guarded territorial boundaries.

The male dik-dik pictured here just “over-marked” his mate’s feces prior to being photographed. Captured in Lake Manyara National Park, we found this dik-dik during our search for leopards in the tall brush.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Tip #58: The Anthropomorphic Image

Something Stinks Around Here - Collard Peccary (javelina), Pecari tajacu
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 1.4x Converter
Saguaro NP, AZ

An·thro·po·mor·phic, adj: ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman things

It is the “cardinal sin” of the sciences, especially in zoological and botanical disciplines that require pure objectivity. The anthropomorphic biologist fails to see the adaptive nature of a behavior, lacks a clinical assessment of an interaction and allows emotion to betray the implications of the data. I can still recall the red marks on my first undergraduate thesis. Years of research produced pages of data that were written by hand and analyzed with primitive computers. My experiment was controlled, the statistics were accurate and my conclusions were sound. However, the analysis in my discussion lacked the scientific approach that stressed objectivity above everything else. I was reprimanded and forced to write and rewrite the thesis until it was devoid of humanity.

The Old Man - Savanna Elephant, Loxadonta africana
Canon 1D markII + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 1.4x Converter
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Twenty-three years later, this aging biologist and educator is also a photographer. The scientific mind is the objective mind, while the high school educator is the master of anthropomorphism. Atoms want to embrace as they form chemical bonds, prey strive to avoid predation, and plants try to grow towards the light. Claiming that hydrogen is the “slut” of the atomic world to oxygen, the “player,” who does nothing but take-take-take in the pursuit of electrons, I console myself that these sins are for the greater good ... the education of the next generation.

Broken Jaw - Mantled Howler Monkey, Alouatta palliata
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS
Selva Verde - Costa Rica

As in education, anthropomorphism is the wildlife photographer’s friend. It is human nature to see ourselves in nonhuman beings, as this is how we build meaning from what we observe. The technical skills of the nature photographer fulfills my scientific mind. The pursuit of the subject, the assessment of phenology and the research of behavior are my science, but my goal is to transcend the technical and find the hints of humanity in my prey. Anthropomorphic images allow the viewer to see their nature in nature, and suggest the importance of conservation. When pictures define humanity with the absence of humans, we help others to see ourselves as just another biological being. Tug at some heart strings, promote conservation and search for yourself in your subjects.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Tip #42: Know the Biology

Danaus plexippus - Spring Migrant

Don’t underestimate the power of knowledge, the acquisition of which often takes time and careful study. As photographers seeking to capture intimate details in the natural world, opportunities are lost whenever we fail to make the intellectual investment.

Asclepias tuberosa

Prior to our travel to Tanzania in 2008, we purchased field guides, photographic essays, and Hemingway novels about Africa. I studied the work of masters, and scoured the pages of old National Geographic magazines in search of inspiration. In photography, the moment of capture is an ephemeral thing; preparation leverages our opportunity to slow time.

Danaus plexippus - Brief Encounter
Mated pair

The image maker knows natural history and can anticipate the way climate, light and seasons influence behavior. This type of knowledge empowers the nature shooter and sharpens their vision.

Asclepias syriaca - Fruit of Labor
Seed Dispersal

Before photography, I was a field ecologist. I studied pelagic birds in the arctic, rodents in the desert and migratory butterflies that are iconic visitors to the midwest. Real scientific knowledge allows for an insight that other photographers lack. My vision is unique, my approach is deliberate, and knowledge is a secret weapon.

The posted photographs tell a story about a species and its North American habitat. Careful study of the species and its niche made each of these images possible.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Tip #40: Simplicity

The Simple Life - Kelly Farm, Minnesota
Canon 50D + Canon 17-40L

The following photo-tip builds on a prior discussion about photography and the art of extraction.

Our capacity to experience the essence of a place, stretch the landscape, or focus on subtle details can be attributed to the computational complexities of the human brain. Well adapted to a world of bright lights and deep shadows, our visual cortex is the largest system within the cerebral hemisphere. Like our ancestral primates, whose evolution relied on careful navigation throughout the narrow branches of a tropical canopy, visual acuity is the difference maker. A misperception of distance or branch location is the difference between finding food or being food. We, the giant and most populous primate on earth, are sensory mongers. Like the iconic astronomical arrays that dot the New Mexican landscape, we are satellites for auditory, visual and olfactory inputs. Collectors and interpreters of stimuli, the brain is our filter.

Morning Layers - Tamarack Nature Center, Minnesota
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8IS L

You, the photographer, must learn to be a filter. With inputs emanating from all directions, the photographic artist needs to decide what to exclude. A cluttered image littered with too many subjects or random movements will distract your viewer from the intent of your vision. Photography is a deliberate process in which the image maker contrives the intent by defining what to subtract from the observer’s field of view. Here in lies the art of photography ...we seek to simplify the infinite complexities in the visual landscape.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Capturing a Mood

Morning Fog and the Lift Bridge - Stillwater, MN
Canon 5D MarkII + 35mm f2.0 Zeiss ZE

September 23rd has come and gone and with it went the summer. For a brief moment, our planet neither leaned towards nor away from the sun. Residing in the same plane, this ephemeral point in time, the equinox, has happened biannually in the past and will repeat twice every year into the future.

Summer Reflections - Bearhead Lake in Ely, MN
Canon 7D + 300mm f2.8L IS

It is September 24th and the Earth’s axis now begins to tilt. Here, in the North, we are beginning to lean towards the cold emptiness of space while our brethren to the South are moving towards the warmth of the sun. How I envy the equatorial inhabitants of our planet. Everyday is an equinox on the equator. Never leaning towards or away from the radiant energy that fuels the tropics, the Equatorials need not fear the long dark that accompanies a life closer to the poles.

Seeds of Summer - William O'Brien State Park, MN
Canon 7D + 300mm f2.8L IS

Autumn signals a shift in my own mood. No longer free to frolic in the woods, pursue my craft, and live the life of a nomad, September requires disciplined adulthood. My inner adolescent who craves the aimlessness of summer now must resume the maturity expected of a 46 year-old man. With the loss of freedom comes moodiness to my work. As Labor Day approached, I found myself seeking drama in the ordinary. Waking early to catch a thick fog or chasing harsh light to juxtapose against deep shadows.

High-Key Sunrise - Tamarack Nature Center, MN
Canon 7D + 300mm f2.8L IS

Photography is an amazing outlet for the latent creative in us all. A medicine that heals and a therapist for the mind, image capture can ease the discomfort of life’s transitions. I encourage those of you in the north obsessed with your harvest, the stowing acorns, and the digging of shelter to put these preparations aside, grab a camera and shoot your mood. This is the time when the inner artist needs to be nurtured, freed and allowed the opportunity to express itself.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Road Tripping Through Ecosystems #5

Courtship
Selva Verde - Caribbean Slope - Costa Rica
Canon 7D + 300 f2.8ISL + 1.4x Converter

The noise, "yo-YIP a-yip a-yip," broke my trance. I was transfixed by the red-eyed tree frog clinging to a vine, when the cry pierced through the air. Ditching the macro gear, I grabbed my tripod, a telephoto, and camera to make a run towards the nest. A pair of chestnut-mandibled toucans were courting. These aggressive nest robbing, lizard eating, fruit licking birds were engaged in a moment of tenderness. An icon of the rainforest and cereal box celebrity, these toucans were among my favorite finds while road-tripping through the tropics.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Species Profile: Megalopygidae

Biodiversity is the scientific way of describing variety; it is a measure of the total number of distinct species in a defined area. Some biologists assess biodiversity by examining genes within a population, while others invoke the classical “species concept” as a way of defining the richness of life in an ecosystem. Regardless of the measurement tool, high biodiversity is a good thing and is cited as a positive indicator for environmental health.

Costa Rica and its tropical forests are known for its high species richness and biodiversity. Some regard the entire country as an ecological hotspot. With the Atlantic Ocean to the east and Pacific to the west, two distinct weather systems collide where the mountains bisect the country. Traveling east to west, the elevation increases along the Caribbean slope. The cumulative affect of oceanic air and elevation changes result in the formation of distinct microclimates that define multiple ecosystems within small patches of land. Like the Caribbean, the Pacific Slope is geologically diverse. As the mountains sink towards the ocean, the structure and diversity of the forests change. Geographic diversity and climate stability contribute to the staggering biological variety found across the country.

On the Fringe

Joshua Tree National Park has been an inspiration to me in more ways than I can articulate. Shortly before my 13th birthday I moved to 29 Palms California, and I... a New York City kid, had to learn to love a place that was foreign. The Mojave was relentless. It was a dry sparsely populated fragment of rock, dirt, and tumbleweed. I hated my new world. I craved the odors of Manhattan, street vendors, and sewers... I just wanted to go home.

Like any lost kid, I adapted. I looked for anything to help me waste away the endless hours of boredom. I took long hikes into the desert, investigated abandoned shacks, and fished for lizards (yes... we use to call it fishing!). By the time I left JTree in 1979, I'd fallen for its charm. In this seemingly simplistic world, I discovered complexities.

My studies in college led me back to the Mojave... This barren landscape that was the place of my youth was also where I found my wife. While I no longer call the desert home, I am a frequent visitor. I have camped, hiked and photographed this harsh landscape for more than two decades, and have spent hours searching for elusive creatures. During a recent outing to Joshua Tree National Park I had a brief encounter with the herd pictured throughout this essay. While I've seen Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) across montane regions of the U.S., I had never observed them here. The herd traversed rocky outcrops as they ushered their lambs up and over the mountain pass. Their cryptic form allowed even the largest rams to disappear into the mountainscape like a desert mirage on a sunny day. I am forever amazed by the complexity of life and its capacity to evolve and adapt to marginal habitats across our planet. The desert is a beacon for the evolutionary process... competition for limited resources drives change and allows only the most fit to thrive, reproduce and contribute genes into the next generation. If you want to see evolution, look to the fringe... in the desert, the footprint of biology is too large to be ignored.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Spring is in the Air

What's this naturalist, photographer, and biologist to do when he's not hiking a trail or chasing the light? The answer I'm about to offer is likely to surprise you all... he's planning the high school prom. The life I live is a veritable hall of mirrors defined by both paradox and coincidence. I happen to be a one-time field ecologist who now finds both security and passion in educating future doctors, researchers, environmental activists, and citizens. The work that fulfills me each day, is fraught with a strange irony. I loathe opulence, and am likely to be one of the few who has ignored the royal display of wealth plaguing the media landscape throughout the week. Yet, here I am the co-coordinator of the most opulent event sponsored by my employer each year. Call me the prom guy, charged with organizing a self-indulgent event for the massess.

Species Profile: Yucca brevifolia

When Mormon settlers crossed the Mojave in the mid-19th century they "saw" the hands of Joshua reaching towards the heavens... so goes the origin of this tree's colloquial name.

Grasping with Hands

Binocular vision - Upright posture - Generalized skeleton - Facial mobility - Grasping hands - Large brains

Sound familiar?

Home Coming

On March 7th, two days prior to yet another predicted "snownado" (adj: sno-nado, a term used by the weather terrorists to inspire fear in the masses about upcoming snow events) Tamy and I boarded a plane for sunny California... the place we still call home. While Minnesota is where we live, work, and play we have been reticent to call it "home." Although our visit to California was primarily relegated to family, we managed to steal a few days and immerse ourselves in the craft of photography. The moderate temps and coastal breezes were all that I needed to get the creative juices flowing.

Inspiration #5: Natural Selection

Life is a paradox. The multi-celled organism is a singularity, an entity unto itself. Yet, this "singularity" may be composed of one-hundred trillion cells, each of which is also a living entity unto itself. The body of this multicellular organism is a coop; a community of single cells each collaborating to enable the larger "ONE" an opportunity to thrive. Interestingly, the "ONE" is only a single individual among "MANY" that compose a larger population. Natural selection acts on the "ONE" and influences the evolution of the "MANY."

Kenya 2010: The Mara in Review (III)

Predators abound across the African Savanna.... always on the lookout for a place to hide, something to eat, and easy prey. With their keen eyes, large ears, and ultra-sensitive olfactory organs, predators are finely tuned to seek out the injured and feeble.

This morning's quick post is homage to the evolutionary process that has so carefully crafted the anatomy and physiology of the carnivore. Be it gradual or punctuated, natural selection facilitates the retention of only the most adaptive characteristics while enabling the loss of traits that fail to perpetuate the species.

Graceful and lean, the cheetah is an ancient member of the family Felidae. Known for speed and maneuverability, she and her cubs scout the Mara in search of the weak and vulnerable.

The Banded-mongoose belongs to the family Herpestidae. Thin and wiry like a mink, this predator takes on rodents, insects and serpents. Working among the collective, the mongoose is a fierce enemy of the cobra.
The last image is of a Black-backed Jackal. Lurking among the tall grasses, these members of the family Canidae, seek out the dead and dying. They steal bits of food from abandoned carrion and hunt in the secrecy of night.

Here's to the predator.... crafty and lean... like all of Africa's wildlife, living on the edge.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Kenya 2010: 21,000 and Falling!

RhinoScape
Lake Nakuru, Kenya
Canon 7D & 300 f2.8IS

At about 8:30 this evening I was editing some work from our recent trip to Kenya and plotting a pathway into today's blog. My first inclination was to discuss photography with a focus on animal landscapes. We had spent a day touring Lake Nakuru National Park and were fortunate to see a herd of five white rhinoceros in some really sweet light... this unique encounter was going to be the seed for my discussion.

Shortly after processing the lead image (see top), I was rudely interrupted by a solicitor.... I knew it was a solicitor because my caller ID said, Pittsburgh and..., I don't know anyone from Pittsburgh. Anyway I decided to answer the phone figuring that I'd just hang up when I got that pregnant pause... you all know the pause, it's the moment between the pick up and the butchering of my name. Well, you can imagine my surprise when the young lady who called my home said, "Hello, I'm calling from the World Wildlife Fund, and I want you to know that Rhinoceros populations are on a steep decline."

A steep decline!...
Not only do I know about this crisis, I teach it. I try to help my students understand the problems associated with extinction and loss of biodiversity every year.
In my classes, I often discuss how species become threatened or endangered, due to the unending human expansion and perpetuation of irrational behaviors in the name of tradition and ideology. Needless to say, I was quite receptive to my solicitor. I shared that she could not have picked a better moment to call my home, and that I would gladly donate to a program that was funding the transfer of black and white rhinos to Ol Pejeta Conservancy... it was a very weak and humbling moment for me.

So, rather than discussing the photographic process, I thought that I would share some general information about this very unique and ancient group of mammals.

- Rhinoceros belong to the order perissodactyla, the group known as odd toed ungulates. Perrisodactyla also includes the equines (horse, zebra, donkey), and tapirs.

- Rhinoceros-like mammals have been roaming the planet for over 30 million years and their ancestral forms had a larger range than all of the species currently here today. The distribution of prehistoric rhinos once included Europe, large areas of Asia and North America.

- There are only five living species of rhinoceros today, all of which are threatened by poaching and considered to be endangered. In general, rhinoceros numbers are so low that they can only be found in national parks, conservancies, and protected forests.

- There are less than 21,000 individual rhinoceros living in parks and reserves, and their numbers are falling.

- According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are fewer than 25 individual Sumatran Rhinoceros.

- The Javan Rhinoceros survives in isolated pockets of Indonesia and Vietnam. Poaching and deforestation are decimating their population. The current census predicts that there are fewer than 75 Javan Rhinos left in the wild.

- The Indian Rhinoceros is also known as the "Great One Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis)." While its range once included Pakistan, Burma, and China, it is now restricted to the mountain slopes of Nepal and protected regions of India.

- The Black Rhinoceros is a solitary and often cantankerous browser. They have a semi-prehensile lip that is used to gently pluck leaves from bushes and shrubs. This is one of two species of rhinoceros that can be found in Africa. The image pictured above and below are the same individual. He is a blind rhino that lives in Ol Pejeta Conservancy, and part of their public outreach program.

- The white rhinoceros is subdivided into two sub-species. The southern white rhino is on a road to recovery with a population that exceeds 14,000 individuals. The largest population can be found in South Africa. In contrast, there are as few as eight northern white rhinoceros on the planet today. The largest sub-population lived in a zoo in the Czech Republic. In 2009 the four Czech white rhinos were translocated to Ol Pejeta, where they hope to rebuild the population. Unlike the black rhinoceros, white rhinoceros are gregarious grazers. They use their wide lip to mow down the savanna grasses.

What Can You Do?

1. Tell the people you know that rhinoceros populations on this planet are threatened with extinction.
2. Write your government and tell them that you care and that you want them to support the rules and treaties defined by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).

3. Make a donation to the World Wildlife Fund... we did!

4. Make a donation to Ol Pejeta Conservancy... we did! Ol Pejeta is home to 86 black rhinoceros, 10 southern white rhinoceros, and 4 (of 8 on the planet!) northern white rhinoceros. These animals roam throughout the 90,000 acres of protected Kenyan forests, mountains, and grasslands.

5. Fight for biodiversity! Every species is the product of evolution by natural selection and every species on this planet contributes to the complexity of the world in which YOU live!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Kenya 2010: We are the Ape Family

The physical similarities are unmistakeable. If you accept the premise that lions and tigers are cats or wolves and foxes are dogs, then it is no leap of faith to claim that chimpanzees and humans are apes... we just happen to be more naked than them.

While our posture, mode of communication, and diet may differ, our physical anatomy and biochemistry are remarkably similar. A comparison of genetic similarities between our two species suggest that there is no living organism more like a human than a chimpanzee or bonobo. In fact, our genetic code, which consists of over 3.2 billion base pairs (3,200,000,000 bp), has a 98.6% overlap with that of the chimpanzee. On average, 3,155,200,000 bp of our DNA is the same as the DNA found in the common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes. Either we are both apes or we are both humans... I’ll let you decide where you’d like to draw the line.

I begin here with a biology lesson to underscore the purpose of today’s thoughts. Chimpanzees are routinely hunted for bush meat, medical experiments, circuses, and pets. This cousin of ours is often extracted from the environment in which it evolved and is forced to live under inhumane conditions across the planet. Native to rainforests and savannas of East and West Central Africa, this closest living connection to our own evolutionary heritage lives under the threat of an ever-expanding human population.

In 1993 the Kenya Wildife Service (KWS) and the Jane Goodall Institute negotiated an agreement with the Ol Pejeta Conservancy to establish a 250 acre chimpanzee sanctuary for orphaned and abused chimpanzees. The sanctuary was first established to provide a protectorate for animals trapped within the civil conflict that was occurring in Bujumburu, Burundi.

Today, the conservancy is home to two groups of chimpanzees separated by the Ewaso Nyiro River. These rehabilitated chimps live much like wild troops in their own native habitat. Unlike truly wild groups, Sweetwater’s chimps are offered food provisions, vaccines and routine medical care. To control the inevitable population growth, females are fed contraceptives to reduce fertility. While it is possible to see the chimpanzees during brief periods of the day, they spend most of their time in the woods and tree canopy. Living as far from human eyes as possible, these chimpanzees appear to view us with suspicion. They are rescued apes, they wear the scars of their captivity, and they appear to see their captors when they look at us.

It costs between $4000 and $6000 to support a chimpanzee in Sweetwater for one year. This conservancy survives as a result of government aid, the Jane Goodall Institute, and other non-profits. You can help support a chimpanzee at Sweetwater by “adopting a cousin”... we did. The Chimpanzee pictured on the right is Naika. Naika was abandoned by a circus, but now lives as the 3rd ranking female in her group.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

On the Origin of Species

One-hundred and fifty years ago, the seminal theory that unified the life sciences was published on this day. The author, Charles Darwin, outlined his basic theory twenty years prior to its formal publication. His deference to the scientific process and the norms of his time stalled the presentation of a remarkable idea that changed the way we now understand life on this planet. While many in history contemplated the connectedness between living organism, nobody but Darwin could provide a mechanism for evolutionary change. It took Darwin two decades to assemble the evidence and refine his original hypothesis. Today, this theory is fundamental to our basic understanding of biology.

What is most remarkable is that Darwin had the forethought to describe an evolutionary mechanism prior to the development of genetic theory and molecular inheritance. To honor this remarkable idea, I offer you a photo essay juxtaposed with the closing paragraph from “On the Origin of Species.”

“It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on bushes, with various insects flitting about and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the external conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms.

Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed laws of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.” Charles Darwin, November 24, 1859.

The Way We See It